Maybe moving to a town wasn't such a good Idea...

...for my wallet. I am now on a shopping ban until I get my next pay, because this month I've been spending money like there's no tomorrow. Most of it on things I didn't use to when I lived in that small village. For example, My bf and I have eaten out a couple of times, been to the gym, and shopping at fleamarkets. I also put €€€'s on my new trainers (I really needed those), my new lamp, my new make-up table, that concert last week, all the food for the house-warming party...And a couple of days ago my H&M bill arrived.

So now I can only afford food. And my brother's premiere on friday. He's singing and acting in the musical "Oliver!", dress rehersal is on friday and family can come and watch. For 10 €. My brother is playing "the artful dodger" and I'm quite impressed by this as he's only 15. Also, this will be the first time I get to hear him sing! Ah, the things you miss out on when you live abroad for a few years!

Anyhow, I haven't shown you some of the things I put my hard earned €€€'s on. First up are the seamed stockings plus pretty packaging, and a nice hairflower/brouche.

Then I found this half slip which I liked the style of. Didn't think much about what I would wear with it though, but at least it was cheap! (Sorry for poor quality pic!)

This is another one of those silly things that I really like but don't actually have any use for. Yet. Two table runners, this one folded in half, which just don't go with the colours in my flat. I've been thinking about turning them into a bag or something.

I also found this 1 € blazer that actually fit. Okayish. I'm not a very big girl so finding nice clothes that look good and feel comfortable can be hard. Don't even get me started on shoes...

More from the 1€ a piece category, top and trousers. The trousers felt really comfy and I could really use a pair of plain black ones that I can either dress up or dress down according to the occasion.
During this time of non-shopping I'm trying to be creative and get some stuff done. Like shortening the black trousers. I was also going to sew myself a nice wide skirt, but as I turnes out I don't have the right fabric for it -> shopping required = problem. But I did manage to put up some hooks for my handbags in my walk-in closet! Progress...

Frank Sinatra Concert

Yesterday me and my bf went to listen to my cousin perform songs by Frank Sinatra together with the Finnish Navy Band. It was quite a nice evening, the music was good, the dancing was good and the costumes that the ladies wore were really good. Here's a clip from the concert recorded earlier on the tour, but unfortunately the girls aren't wearing the same lovely costumes as they did yesterday.

As I recently purchased a pair of vintage seamed stockings, I decided that there's no time like the present and wore them to the concert. This is what I looked like:

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The selfmade skirt felt a bit too fancy so I dressed down a bit by wearing the H&M cardigan. The flats I bought in England and they were only my second option for what to wear. Really, I would have liked to wear these lovely shoes that used to be my grandmothers (as far as I know). Much nicer with the stockings, don't you think? The problem however is that my feet are tiny. Unless I wear wooly socks they're a size 35 or 35,5 (3 in the uk). These shoes are about size 37 or 38. Why?!?!? We could have had som much fun together...

On saturday it's my jobs christmas party. Yes, in october. But this is retail, in our store, christmas begins on monday. Same old question - what am I going to wear? I've got a couple of suggestions but, ah, we'll see.

Right, so here's the new find I mentioned in my previous post, tadaa: my new dressing table!

I think it's charming. I'm really curious as to when this was made, any clues? There's something written underneath it which I interpret as teak ????? And it kinda looks like teak so maybe? There was also a white dressing table at the "retro" store but white just didn't feel like me at all. I've always liked wooden furniture better. Plus this one felt more unusual. € 20 is what it cost me. Now the challenge is finding a suitable stool for it...

Too much?!

I feel like I've been shopping a lot lately. Visiting fleamarkets and the like every other day, been today, went yesterday and going again on wednesday... But ok, I haven't really been spending that much money. Yesterday I spent 2 euros, on friday only 90 cents! So I guess I can accept that, right? This is what I spent 3 euros on last wednesday, some tight and very long black and gold sriped trousers, will have to take those up, and a GREEN top. I never wear green. Maybe because my mother used to dislike it so much, at least certain shades of it. This shade I like, It's pretty dark and calm. Mission "more colour into my wardrobe" continues.

At the same place I found the above, I also picked up this cute little dress. I love the skirt cause it's quite full and I get a bit of a 50's feel when I wear it. The belt is my mum's old and I'm so glad I finally found something to wear it with!

The coat used to my mum's as well, at least I think so...It is pretty, um, attention-grabbing? At least that's how I feel when wearing it. It is thick and heavy and the wind blows right through it. I guess I've got a bit of a love-hate relationship towards it. It looks nice with a skirt though. Perhaps I shall sew myself some skirts using the dress as inspiration? Sometime in the future. When I've got the time...

Yesterday was an interesting day. In the morning my bf took me to a yard sale where I found an ice cream bowl to go with the 3 i have from before, as well as two pretty table cloths in a 50's inspired pattern, whcih I might show you it i get round to photographing them. For lunch we tried eating sushi, which was a new experience for both of us. It was pretty ok, reminded me taste-wise of the food I had at that japanese restaurant in London a while back. I'll probably have it again, although I'm not sure it will make it to my list of favourite foods...

Later in the afternoon I decided to try "winter-bathing" which is one of my boyfriends hobbies. He's been doing it for years and I was kinda curious. Basically you sit in a hot sauna and every now and then you go outside for a dip/swim, in the winter in a hole in the ice. Yesterday the water was 7 degrees celsius so a bit warmer than in the winter. But I surprised myself by actually getting into the water, I didn't swim though. Maybe next time. Cause it was actually quite fun! And I liked being able to understand and share this with my bf, as it's something he really enjoys.

This picture is from a newspaper article a few years back about winter-bathing - featuring my boyfriend!

Right, now I'm off to start making lunch and then put together my latest purchase from the "retro" recucling shop. Hint; it's a piece of furniture, and I think it dates back to the 50's or 60's.

Moving-in party and a movie (or two!)

On saturday I had a small moving-in party with a few close friends. This is what I served:

Very tasty, and most of it healthy as well. It was pretty nice to have a part of my teenage gang assebled again, it has indeed been a while! One of my friends is engaged and pregnant with her second baby, another is also engaged and works as a journalist, one is a teacher to be and the fourth is on her way to egypt on holiday right about now...We had a lot to talk about!

I've been thinking for a while about this whole blogging thing, why I read blogs and why I write my own. In the end, for me, all it really comes down to is inspiration. I want to get inspired and I want to inspire others, the same way they inspire me. I used to borrow interiour decoration magazines from the library and actually photograph the pictures that inspired me and then save them on my computer. Now, I hunt the web for pretty pictures, patterns, colour combinations and appealing design. My folder of inspiration has 2299 files in it and it just keeps growing! And to keep me inspired I have set it as a screensaver-slide show, works pretty well...So I thought I might start to share a little bit more of my inspiration with you!

Todays theme is the movie "8 femmes", or "eight women", it's in french, it's a musical and the clothes are fantastic. See it if you're interested! Imdb link here.

Hah, as I was finishing this post the phone rang. It appears I have won a couple of dvd's in a competition! How funny, I never win anything...I think it was the latest Cameron Diaz film + another one. Wow. Add that to my collection of what, 8 dvd's in total? Anyway, I'm pleased! :)

I love lamp

What a rainy day. It gets me down a bit but then I try to remind myself of how good my life really is at the moment. This time last year my life was far from it. I had just started my cleaning job, which at the time made me feel like I'd failed, me and my bf at the time were living on the small amount of money a part time job provides while we were waiting for his student money to come through. At the same time I was also adapting to being back in Finland, trying to help my bf to adapt and learn the language, take care of myself and him and the flat and I had a few design-deadlines just to top things off. In short, I was a bit stressed. No, I was very stressed.

But this time around things are so much better, my job is better and my flat is nicer, I've got a touch more money to live on and my new boyfriend is just great. I can't really ask for more can I?

Anyway, this post was supposed to be about my new lamp. Because I couldn't resist. It stayed on my mind and I kept imagining it hanging from the ceiling...So I went back for it. And now I'm in love. I had a feeling it was goint to be one of those things that would make me smile evey time I look at it. And it does.

These curtains are in the same category of thing that make me smile. They are my mum's old and I wanted to put them up now when it's getting darker. Six more suns should get me through the dark months don't you think?

Ah, I am so happy I went back for it!

Moving on

The weekend was spent with my boyfriend fixing stuff at the flat and visiting my parents. I'm lucky because my bf is one of those men who know how to handle a skrewdriver, so he put up lamps for me enabling me to actually see what I'm doing round here...

I picked up a few things from my parents house, apart from a couple of rugs I also took back 2 pairs of trousers, a pair of suspenders and a skirt. Trouser pair #1 :

These trousers are from the 70's or a little earlier, pin-striped and very flared at the bottom. Sadly they are a bit ichy as well. Maybe if I wear tights underneath?

Trouser pair # 2 are dark blue corderoy from a similar time period, not quite as flared but very nice for the autumn. I have no idea where the suspenders are from...

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I also dragged my poor bf to a couple of flea markets in search for anything nice for the flat. The only thing I found was this awesome retro lamp which looked a bit liek a combination of the lower part of this lamp magnified to about 40 cm wide, and the lower bits of the lamp underneath, in white. It was huge, so enormous that I didn't buy it as I was worried it would hang to low in my flat. Also, my bf thought it was hideous. It would have been 20 €. I am tempted to go back for it, but the fact remains that it might hang to low...Ah, dilemma!

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Moving

It is done. All my stuff is here at the new place and the keys to the old place are handed in and so on. I've been busy having a terrible cold and fixing up my new living quarters. It's getting there, slowly. So much stuff that I still need to get though, such as a few more lamps and rugs. But I like it here. It's starting to look pretty cozy.

My old flat was partly decorated the way my boyfriend at the time wanted it, but after we broke up I did change a few things, but still not enough to really make it feel completely mine. This time around I'm living on my own and I get to decide everything. However my bf did like how the place looks now so much that he's started to get ideas about moving in together! When we get there though it'll have to be a place a bit bigger than this...

This is how my old living room used to look like:

Detail of my camera collection:

Right, now I need to prepare for work, I'm working evenings both this week and the next. Oh, well, at least I can sleep longer in the mornings.